To Encourage You

Luke 24:25 “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!’”

In our adult Sunday School class, we are studying about how the story of the coming of the Messiah is prophesied over and over again in the Old Testament.  In the first chapter of our study guide the question is asked, “What if Jesus led a Bible study?”  Isn’t that a great question?  What do you think it would be like to be part of such a class?  

Well, we can get some wonderful insights into the answer to this question by simply reading an account that the Bible gives us in Luke 24. It’s one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible.  It’s about a time soon after Jesus’ resurrection when his disciples didn’t know what to think.  In this passage we read about two of Jesus’ followers who were walking on the road to Emmaus and discussing the events of that day.  The Bible says that they were “downcast.” It is while they are walking and talking that Jesus comes up to them and asks them what they are talking about.   Interestingly, it says that “they were kept from recognizing him.”  And so, they begin to tell Jesus about this One Who they had thought was the Messiah, but then, three days ago, He had been sentenced to death and crucified.  They were, obviously, devastated by this. But then, “some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”  It is to this that Jesus answered with the words in the passage above, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”  And that’s when Jesus’ Bible study begins!  

If you’ve ever led or been part of a Bible study, chances are that the leader never started out with such a statement!  But, oh, coming from the lips of Jesus, how true these shocking words were!  You see, anyone who was ever in the same place with Jesus was always with someone who was the smartest person in the room.  Not only that, He is the smartest and wisest person in the history of the universe, for He, alone, is the omniscient One.  That means He knows EVERYTHING!  Can you imagine being with such a being as this?  But, oh how important that we know this as we come to Him.  It’s important to realize that compared to Him, we know nothing.  We, like those disciples on the road to Emmaus, always have so much to learn.  That’s the attitude with which we should always come to the Bible. We should never put ourselves above it in some way, as if we, in our “intellect” and “wisdom” have little need to hear what it has to say.  Rather, as we come to the words of this book, we should come to it with the realization that its author knows everything that there is to know about anything.  He knows how the world was created, for all of Creation was His idea. He knows what everything is made of, from the smallest component of the atom to the largest and most distant star.  He knows how it all works, for He’s the One who sustains it. He knows everything about everyone at every moment. He knows our innermost thoughts and He knows every word we have ever or will ever say.  And He knows that we would be reading the Bible at any moment in our life that we would happen to be doing so and He knows exactly what we would be thinking as we read! As the psalmist contemplated such wisdom he exclaimed, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6).  

Yet, wonderfully, although we can never know all that God knows, we can know so much more than we know now if we will just come to Him. In Psalm 25:8 we are told that “He teaches the humble His way.” And in Psalm 32:8 He has told us that, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” In other words, don’t be “as dumb as an ox” that has to be forcibly taught to obey. Rather, come willingly and submit to the Master’s instruction, for there is so much He wants to teach us.  

May God give us the heart of the psalmist who prayed “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).  For you see, God’s precious Word is full of such things, and the Holy Spirit wants to teach us, if we are hungry and willing to be taught.